Special Investigations Unit

Wage Rates and Rules in the Construction Industry

Minimum wage rates for most Heavy and Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) work in the construction industry are set by The Construction Industry Wages Act (CIWA) and are based on a worker’s trade classification.  Rates in the ICI sector increased on January 1, 2016, and in the Heavy sector, on May 1, 2016. 

There are no special rules regarding wage rates in the house building sector, or on most renovation and maintenance work.  These workers are covered by The Employment Standards Code and are entitled to Manitoba’s general minimum wage.

However, employers in the construction industry do not always classify workers correctly, or properly record the types of construction work they are doing.  The CIWA describes trade classifications and the wage rates associated with that work.

The most common issue where businesses are not complying with the law is in the area of ratios in the ICI sector.  Employers who fall under the CIWA are generally limited to a maximum of one apprentice for each journeyperson on a worksite and one trainee for each skilled tradesperson. The law restricts employers from having any more than one construction worker for every 10 other employees. Journeypersons, skilled tradespersons, apprentices and trainees all count toward the number of employees on the worksite.

• A journeyperson is “a person who holds a certificate of qualification or proficiency from a recognized authority or acquires the skills of a trade by working in it for a period of not less than six years”.
• A skilled tradesperson is “someone who has worked at least 2400 hours in the trade”.
• A construction worker is “any worker if they are not doing the work of a journeyperson”.

Temporary help agencies supply many lower-skilled workers to businesses in the construction industry.  In these cases, the agency is the employer and assumes responsibility for incorrect ratios and wages that are not paid properly. 

The following cases are based on actual investigations conducted by Employment Standards:

• A tip was sent in that a business was winning construction tenders and not following CIWA rules. We reviewed the specific jobs conducted by employer and found non-compliance with CIWA ratios. The employer was under the impression that all low-skilled work was “maintenance” and therefore excluded from the CIWA. We took the position that the type of work these low-skilled workers were performing, fell within the ICI definition.
• Employment Standards conducted an industry project to assess compliance with the CIWA.  Of the 29 contractors we reviewed, 15 were not complying with ICI wage rates and ratios for lower skilled workers.

Employment Standards educated employers in these cases and issued Notices to Comply.  A Notice to Comply is a warning to the employer that can lead to penalties if the employer is found not to be following the law in the future.